Ashley's injury gives others opportunity

Jason Scheer

02/02/2014

Numerous players have the opportunity to step up with Brandon Ashley's injury. Read on to see a breakdown of those players and what they need to do.

With Brandon Ashley out for an extended period of time, there is an opportunity for numerous Arizona players to step up. Here is a closer look at the players who could benefit the most from Ashley's absence.

Matt Korcheck: Korcheck is not going to get major minutes, but they should still be increased. Now, that may mean 5-7 minutes per game, but those are going to be big ones and more than what he has been playing this season.

Korcheck has the opportunity to replace Ashley on the glass and against bigs defensively. There is definitely an improvement to be made for Korcheck, but if he is ever going to get minutes, this is it.

Elliott Pitts: It was a bit surprising when Pitts got in over Jordin Mayes, even if it was only for a few minutes. There is a good chance that this happened because Miller realized that Pitts' minutes will now go up with Ashley out and it is basically now or never.

Mayes is what he is and it isn't great. Pitts has the ability to grow as a player and his ceiling this season is higher than anything Mayes is going to do. If Pitts can give around 10 minutes per game and be effective in doing so, Arizona is going to be much better for it.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: Minutes are not an issue with Hollis-Jefferson, but we are going to assume that he is still going to see an increase and get in the starting lineup. In addition, he could be asked to be a little more aggressive or at least more confident offensively.

Hollis-Jefferson is a good player, but he had been struggling a bit before the loss to Cal. There may not be a huge dropoff in defense if Hollis-Jefferson can play up to his capabilities and if he can somehow prove to make an impact offensively, Arizona will welcome it with open arms.

Gabe York: With Arizona losing some size, it probably makes sense to go with a three guard lineup. In that case, York is going to see more minutes and probably going to be asked to pick up some of the offensive slack.

York still needs to play defense, which he has been much better at, if he wants to see his minutes increase. However, he is good enough to stay in the game for longer periods of time in addition to making a statement that he is more than a seventh man.